Reconfiguring process plans: A mathematical programming approach

Increased global competition and frequent unpredictable market changes are current challenges facing manufacturing enterprises. Unpredictable changes of part design and engineering specifications trigger frequent and costly changes in process plans, which often require changes in the functionality and design of the manufacturing system. Process planning is a key logical enabler that should be further developed to cope with the changes encountered at the system level as well as to support the new manufacturing paradigms and continuously evolving products. Retrieval-based process planning predicated on rigid pre-defined boundaries of part families, does not satisfactorily support this changeable manufacturing environment. Since purely generative process planning systems are not yet a reality, a sequential hybrid approach at the macro-level has been proposed. Initially the master plan information of the part family\u27s composite part is retrieved, then modeling tools and algorithms are applied to arrive at the process plan of the new part, the definition of which does not necessarily lie entirely within the boundary of its original part family. Two distinct generative methods, namely Reconfigurable Process Planning (RPP) and Process Re-Planning were developed and compared. For RPP, a genuine reconfiguration of process plans to optimize the scope, extent and cost of reconfiguration is achieved using a novel 0-1 integer-programming model. Mathematical programming and formulation is proposed, for the first time, to reconfigure process plans to account for changes in parts\u27 features beyond the scope of the original product family. The computational time complexity of RPP is advantageously polynomial compared with the exponentially growing time complexity of its classical counterparts. As for Process Re-Planning, a novel adaptation of the Quadratic Assignment Problem (QAP) formulation has been developed, where machining features are assigned positions in one-dimensional space. A linearization of the quadratic model was performed. The proposed model cures the conceptual flaws in the classical Traveling Salesperson Problem; it also overcomes the complexity of the sub-tour elimination constraints and, for the first time, mathematically formulates the precedence constraints, which are a comer stone of the process planning problem. The developed methods, their limitations and merits are conceptually and computationally, analyzed, compared and validated using detailed industrial case studies. A reconfiguration metric on the part design level is suggested to capture the logical extent and implications of design changes on the product level; equally, on the process planning level a new criterion is introduced to evaluate and quantify impact of process plans reconfiguration on downstream shop floor activities. GAMS algebraic modeling language, its SBB mixed integer nonlinear programming solver, CPLEX solvers and Matlab are used. The presented innovative new concepts and novel formulations represent significant contributions to knowledge in the field of process planning. Their effectiveness and applicability were validated in different domains

Promoting the Readiness of Minors in Supplemental Security Income (PROMISE) [CFDA 84.418P]

Over the past two decades, New York State (NYS) has been actively and collaboratively engaged in systems change across three primary domains: 1) to develop a comprehensive employment system to reduce barriers to work and improve employment outcomes of individuals with disabilities; 2) to enhance the post-school adult outcomes of youth with disabilities, by collaboratively advancing evidence-based secondary transition practices at the regional, school district and individual student levels; and, 3) to support the return-to-work efforts of individuals with disabilities who receive Social Security Administration (SSA) disability benefits under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). These domains have been supported by numerous federal and state initiatives including: the US Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS)-sponsored Transition Systems Change grant; the SSA-sponsored State Partnership Initiative (NYWORKS); two Youth Transition Demonstrations (YTD); the Benefits Offset National Demonstration (BOND); and, three cycles of funding for the National Work Incentives Support Center (WISC); the US Department of Labor (DOL)-sponsored Work Incentive Grant, Disability Program Navigator Initiative, and Disability Employment Initiative; three rounds of funding from the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) for Medicaid Infrastructure Grants (MIG, NY Makes Work Pay); the NYS Education Department (NYSED) sponsored Model Transition Program (MTP); and three multi-year cycles of the statewide Transition Coordination Site network. Most recently, NYS has sponsored the Statewide Transition Services Professional Development Support Center (PDSC); the NYS Developmental Disability Planning Council (DDPC)-sponsored Transition Technical Assistance Support Program (T-TASP), NYS Work Incentives Support Center (NYS WISC), and NYS Partners in Policy Making (PIP); the NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH)-sponsored Career Development Initiative; and others. The growing statewide and gubernatorial emphasis on employment for New Yorkers with disabilities developed over the past two decades stemming from these initiatives, supported by service innovations and shared vision across state agencies and employment stakeholders, establishes a strong foundation for implementing and sustaining a research demonstration to “Promote the Readiness of Minors in Supplemental Security Income” (PROMISE). The NYS PROMISE will build upon NYS’ past successes and significantly support NYS in removing systems, policy and practice barriers for transition-age youth who receive SSI and their families. The NYS OMH through the Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene (RFMH), with their management partners the New York Employment Support System (NYESS) Statewide Coordinating Council (SCC) and Cornell University Employment and Disability Institute, along with the proposed research demonstration site community, join the NYS Governor’s Office in designing and implementing a series of statewide strategic service interventions to support the transition and employment preparation of youth ages 14-16 who receive SSI

NYS PROMISE Learning Community Group Concept Mapping: Fall 2016 Case Manager Experience - Final Report

Beginning in 2014, the Federal Government provided funding to New York State as part of an initiative to improve services that lead to sustainable outcomes for youth receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. As part of the NYS PROMISE initiative, Concept Systems, Inc. worked with the Learning Community to develop learning needs frameworks using the Group Concept Mapping methodology (GCM). The GCM projects gather, aggregates, and integrate the specific knowledge and opinions of the Learning Community members. This allows for their guidance and involvement in supporting NYS PROMISE as a viable community of practice. This work also increases the responsiveness of NYS PROMISE to the Learning Community members’ needs by inspiring discussion during the semi-annual in-person meetings. As of the end of year three, three GCM projects have been completed with the PROMISE Learning Community. These projects focused on Outreach and Recruitment Project 1), Case Management and Service Delivery (Project 2), and Case Manager Experience (Project 3). This report discusses the data collection method and participation in the Case Manager Experience GCM project, as well as providing graphics, statistical reports, and a summary of the analysis

Learning Community Group Concept Mapping: Fall 2014 Outreach and Recruitment, Spring 2015 Case Management and Service Delivery. Final Reports

Beginning in 2014, the Federal Government provided funding to New York State as part of an initiative to improve services that lead to sustainable outcomes for youth receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. As part of the NYS PROMISE initiative, Concept Systems, Inc. worked with the Learning Community to develop learning needs frameworks using the Group Concept Mapping methodology (GCM). This GCM project gathers, aggregates, and integrates the specific knowledge and opinions of the Learning Community members and allows for their guidance and involvement in supporting NYS PROMISE as a viable community of practice. This work also increases the responsiveness of NYS PROMISE to the Learning Community members’ needs by inspiring discussion during the semi-annual in-person meetings. As of the end of year two, two GCM projects have been completed with the PROMISE Learning Community. These projects focused on Outreach and Recruitment and Case Management and Service Delivery. This report discusses the data collection method and participation in both GCM projects, as well as providing graphics, statistical reports, and a summary of the analysis. In this report we refer to the Fall 2014 project as Project 1, and the Spring 2015 project as Project 2

Infusing a Person Centered Approach Into Transition Planning For Students with Developmental Disabilities

This is the first of two white papers reflective of the work of nine separate demonstration sites interested in integrating person-centered practices into the design and delivery of transition services for high school youth who have developmental disabilities. The reader is provided with an overview of the project and a description of the four universal criteria that each site agreed to adhere to as they designed program approaches that were uniquely tailored to their specific demographics. After a look at the transition policy current to 2001, the paper reveals early project findings regarding the strengths and gaps for person-centered transition planning as culled from project reports. A discussion of where person-centered planning “fits” within the transition process is placed in the context of three primary core components that should be reflected in all transition service programs and a model for infusing person-centered planning is offered. Finally, recommendations for implementing or furthering these practices are introduced along with the contact information for each of the participating demonstration sites

Farmer Family Learning Groups for Community Development

The approach which is owned by everybody who uses it. Farmer Family Learning Groups are groups of farmer families, who together define their needs and goals in relation to their own future development, both as individuals, families and as a group - and then they help each other to reach the goals. The groups form strong networks and help each other, and help the entire local community. Organic farming is practiced in ways which are contextual specific and dependent on the environment, wherever it is being practiced. Forming farmer groups using this approach is likewise contextual specific and entirely determined by the needs and wishes and agreements within the group of families who in the first place decided to form a group for conscious and goal directed development in their households and local community. The beauty of the approach – like many other empowering group approaches – is its flexibility and at the same time strong and clear foundation on values like respect, trust, equality, common learning, building up human and social capital and knowledge which is relevant and meaningful to each participant and learner, as well as probably the most important value: ownership. Contact to the authors and further information can be obtained through the web pages of SATNET, NOGAMU and OD. Tell me and I will forget Show me and I will remember Involve me and I will understand Step back and I will ac